Ring with detachable, convertible mounting



J. SCHECHTER ETAL 3,192,737 RING WITH DETACHABLE, CONVERTIBLE MOUNTING July 6, 1 965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 4, 1961 INVENTORS JACK \SCHECHTAA. .rAcK

July 6, 1965 J. SCHECHTER ETAL 3,192,737

RING WITH DETACHABLE, CONVERTIBLE MOUNTING 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed May 4, 1961 INVENTORS TACK \SCI A'CHTE'K L. SHAW ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,192,737 RlNG WITH DETAICHAELE, QONVERTIBLE MGUNTWG Jack Schechter, North Caldwell, N.li., and Jaclr 1L. Shaw,

New York, N.Y., assignors to Palais Jewelers, Inc, New

York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 4, 1961, Ser. No. $37,742; 6 Claims. (Cl. 63-4) This invention relates to an item of convertible jewelry. More particularly, our invention is concerned with a personal ornament having a decorated, usually jewelled, mount that can be interchangeably employed as a head, i.e., setting, for a ring, or as a pendant, i.e., a drop, for a necklace, earring or the like.

It is an object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described which is inexpensive to make and constitutes relatively few parts.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described which is of attractive appearance.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described having improved means for quickly attaching a removable head to a ring band, said means benig of a nature such that the head, when connected to the ring band, will be firmly and positively held in place and can experience no shifting motion whatsoever relative to said band.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means is inconspicuous and, indeed, is concealed when the head is mounted on a ring band.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means is so interlocked with the ring band that although the head attaching means does not noticeably add to the over-all height of the head, it does not protrude radially inwardly from the inner periphery of the ring band where it would interfere with slipping the ring band on or off a finger.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means, despite its secure engagement with the ring band, is so constructed that it can easily be opened, even by a weak, unskilled person.

It is another object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means cannot be opened accidentally or purposefully while the ring is on a persons finger.

It is an ancillary object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means has two different locked positions, one closed position wherein the head is secured on a ring band, and another open position wherein the head is adapted to be employed as a pendant or drop with the aid of said attaching means.

It is another ancillary object of our invention to provide a personal ornament of the character described in which the head attaching means, and optionally the finger band, is so constructed as to accommodate and hold a deep single, e.g., central, gem or the like.

Other objects of ourinvention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

Our invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the convertible jewelry hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of our invention,

3,192,737 Patented July 6, 1965 "ice FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ring including a ring band and a mount which are detachably coupled in accordance with our invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a necklace including the mount of FIG. 1 which has been uncoupled from the ring band and threaded on a fine chain for use as a drop;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, to a larger scale and with the ornamentation removed, of the ring shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines 4-4 and 55, respectively, of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a front view, to a larger scale and with the ornamentation removed, of the drop shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of a ring embodying a modified form of our invention.

In general, we achieve the several objects of our invention by providing a mount that is removably coupled to a ring band. The mount may be decoratively configured, such decoration optionally constituting the sole ornamental appearance thereof, or in the preferred form of our invention the mount constituting a head or setting for other decorative items, e.g., one or more jewels, a filigree, a symbol, initials, a carved setting, a cameo, etc. Pursuant to our invention a novel quickly operable means is included for detachably attaching the mount to the ring band. Essentially said means comprises an elongated latch pivotally connected to the mount and arranged to have its free end trictionally locked to the mount in a closed position in which the length of the latch bridges the mount in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the ring band. In such closed position the latch is constructed to press outwardly against the inside of the ring band while portions of the mount on opposite sides of the zone of engagement between the latch and band are constructed to press inwardly against the outside of the ring band, whereby to clamp the ring band between the latch and the mount.

Furthermore, and essentially, the ring band and latch, when the latch is in closed position, are so mutually configured that the latch and the ring band have a tongueand-groove interengagement which presents oppositely directed pairs of abutting surfaces perpendicular to the plane of the ring band and generally radially to said band so as to prevent relative circumferential shifting of the mount and ring band, i.e., to prevent the mount from moving peripherally around the ring band. In addition, the mount and ring essentially include a further tongue-and-groove interengagement which presents pairs of oppositely directed abutting surfaces parallel to the plane or: the ring band whereby to prevent relative move-- ment of the mount and band in a direction parallel to the plane of the ring band. Moreover, if desired, the mount and ring may include means providing a pair of spaced pin-and-hole interengagements to assist in holding the mount in fixed location on the ring band.

In one form of ourinvention the pivoted latch is engaged to be frictionally locked to the mount in an open po sition approximately away from its closed position .and in such open position the latch can be used as a sus pension means, for this purpose being provided with an opening through which a chain or other suitable elongated flexible element can be threaded. Said opening can, in addition, be so shaped and arranged that when the latch is in locked closed position the opening can serve as a pivot point for pivotally admitting the tip of an elongated non-flexible implement,.e.g., a nail file, that is used toassist in opening the latch.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1-7, the reference numeral denotes a mount which is adapted to be removably coupled to a ring band 12 so as to form a ring .14 (see FIG. 1) or to be used without the ring band as a pendant or drop 16 in which latter event it is suspended from a fine, i.e., thin flexible, chain 18.

The mount 10 may be of any suitable shape insofar as its decorative-appearance is concerned. Thus, it may be in the form, as shown, of a shallow bowl, having a large central opening 20. The bowl can have formed thereon suitable facets and/or gem settings for ornamental purposes, or there may be welded (soldered) thereon one or a plurality of settings for stones or other ornamental pieces. Typically, the decorative elements have been illustrated by way of example in FIGS. 1 and 2, but these have been eliminated from the remaining figures as they tend to obscure the mechanical components of our invention and since their function is purely decorative and in nowise utilitarian. The mount 10 is made of a rigid selfform-maintaining material such as metal, a precious metal, e.-g., silver, gold or platinum, preferably being employed.

The ring band 12 is with the exception to be noted hereinafter, conventional. That is to say, it constitutes a plane hoop of rigid self-formnnaintaining material such as a metal, a precious metal here also preferably being employed.

The quickly operable means for detachably attaching the mount to the ring band includes an elongated latch Z2 pivotally connected at one end to the mount to turn about an axis parallel to the plane of the ring band when the mount and ring band are coupled. The latch is so pivotally held that it is symmetrically disposed with respect to a principal axis of the mount. Specifically, the latch is a slender rigid metal bar, preferably precious metal, having a transverse through opening at the pivoted end thereof. A long pin 24 is rotatable in said opening. The pin is firmly supported in the mount. For example, the pin runs through the hollow interior of a tube 26, the ends of the tube being secured to opposite sides of the mount and the tube spanning the central opening in a direction parallel to the plane of the ring band when the mount and ring band are coupled. The pin extends beyond the ends of the tube 26 and through registered openings in the mount itself, the ends of said pin being fixed to the mount as by soldering. By virtue of this arrangement the relatively slender pin is reinforced for almost its entire length to prevent substantial flexure thereof. The center of the tube is interrupted by an offset 28 forming a notch 30 that faces toward the bottom of the mount. The bore of the tube as is straight, so that said bore is interrupted at the notch 30 to expose the center of the pin 24 and at such exposed portion the pin is journalled in the pivot opening in the latch 22.

The notch 30 is sufficiently large to permit the pivoted end of the latch to swing freely therein over an arc of at least about 180 between the open and closed positions of the latch, these being shown respectively in FIGS. 4 and 7.

The mount 10 has two diametrically opposed internally facing catch notches 32, 34, the notch 32 being the closed position catch notch and the notch 34 being the open position catch notch. Each of these notches is just wide enough to slidably admit the free end of the latch 22. Said free end is formed with an outwardly facing indentation 36 bounded on one side by a low rounded boss 38 and on the other side by a stop shoulder 4t). The radial distance from the pin 24 to the base of the closed catch notch 32 is a few thousandths of an inch less than the radial distance from the pin 24 to the tip of the low boss 38. Thereby, when the latch is swung to closed position, the low boss frictionally engages the base of the closed catch notch but can be forced past the same until the indentation 36 is aligned with the base of the catch notch. Movement of the latch into such closed position is limited by abutment of the stop shoulder 40 against the bottom of the mount adjacent the closed each notch 32. This closed position is illustrated in FIG. 4.

In the closed ring band coupled position of the latch the central portion of the latch is received in a groove in the ring band 12. Said groove is formed by a U-shaped bend 44 in the ring hand, the groove facing radially inwardly toward the center of the ring band. The sides of the groove are substantially radial, the groove actually being of rectangular cross-section and being so dimensioned as to snugly fit the matching central portion of the latch 22. In said closed ring band coupled position of the latch the latch presses outwardly against the inside of the ring band, i.e., against the base of the groove 42, while the mount presses radially inwardly against the outer side of the ring band. It now will be clear that the latch 22 and groove 42 cooperate to provide a tongue-andgnoove interengagement with the sides of the latch and of the groove in snug mutual contact to create oppositely directed pairs of abutting surfaces perpendicular to the plane of the ring band v12 and substantially radially located with respect to said band, whereby to prevent the mount from experiencing any circumferential movement relative to the band.

A similar means, i.e., a tongue-and-gro-ove interengagement, is utilized, as indicated previously, to prevent the mount from experiencing any movement relative to the ring band in a direction perpendicular to the plane thereof. The groove of said latter means comprises an opposed registered pair of band notches as, located on diametrically opposite sides of the inner periphery of the mount, i.e., facing radially inwardly onto the central open 20 and toward one another. Said grooves are disposed on a principal axis of the mount perpendicular to the length of the latch and therefore parallel to the plane of the ring band when the mount and ring band are coupled. The width of the band notches is equal to the thickness of the ring band 12 where it engages the mount and, indeed, said band constitutes the tongue of the tongue-and-groove joint now being described. The band snugly contacts the sides of the notches 46, 48 to create oppositely directed pairs of abutting surf-aces parallel to the plane of the ring band, thus inhibiting shifting of the mount relative to the ring band in a direction parallel to the latch.

It will be apparent that the two tongue-and-groove interengagements just described and which function to prevent two relative movements at right angles to one another securely fix the mount on the ring band. How-7 ever, to insure rigidity for the connection between the ring band and mount, we optionally, if the design and construction of the mount and ring band permit the same, further include suitable pin-and-hole interengaging means on opposite sides of the mount. The pins comprise stub upwardly extending slender fingers 50, 52 spaced from and on opposite sides of the U-shaped bend 44. The openings comprise a pair of apertures 54, 56 formed in the mount to receive the fingers 50, 52 when the mount and ring band are coupled to one another. The crosssectional configuration of the fingers is shaped and dimensioned to match the contour and size of the apertures 54, 56, whereby the fingers fit snugly in said apertures to inhibit relative motion of the ring band and mount in directions perpendicular and parallel to the plane of the ring band. The fingers desirably taper upwardly to guide, i.e., pilot, the ring band and mount into coupling engagement.

In a preferred form of our invention the latch 22 includes a transverse hole 58 near its free end. Said hole serves to pivotally receive the tip of an implement, e.g., a nail file or a hobby pin, which may be used to facilitate opening of the latch from its closed position in the closed catch notch 32. To open the latch the tip of the implement is inserted in said hole 58 and an intermediate portion of the implement is fulcrumed on the edge of the central opening 20 at the underside of the mount 10. The handle of the implement, i.e., other end of the implement, then is pressed upwardly so as to exert a downwardly prizing force on the latch which suffices to disengage the tip of the same from the closed catch notch 32. Obviously, the latch cannot be swung open when the ring is on a finger; but when off a finger the latch can be rotated sufiiciently to clear the groove 42. and the ring band then can he slipped off the mount for use as a pendant or as a drop.

The detached mount can be employed as a pendant or as a drop by reclosing the latch and threading the chain 18 through the central opening 25? from beneath, then over the latch, and back out the central opening, again from the beneath. Or the chain can be threaded through an opening forming part of the mount or part of a setting secured thereto. .As shown herein, the latch 22 includes the support opening, to wit, the hole 53, which is specially provided for assisting in the use of the mount as a pendant or as a drop. To encourage such use the latch 22 is arranged to have an open locked position and it is for this purpose that the open catch notch 34 is included. At a position intermediate its ends the latch 22 has an indentation 60 on that edge thereof which faces upwardly when the latch is swung 180 away from its closed position. The outer side of said indentation is defined by a low rounded boss 62. The radial distance from the pin 24 to the base of the open catch notch 34 is a few thousandths of an inch less than the radial distance from the pin 24 to the tip of the low boss 62. Thereby, when the latch is swung to full open position the boss 62 will frictionally engage the base of the open catch notch, but can be forced past the same until the indentation 60 is aligned with said base Where it will remain locked. Movement of the latch into open locked position is limited by abutment of the longitudinal edge of the latch against the bottom of the mount adjacent the open catch notch, as shown in FIG. 7.

When the latch is locked in open position, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the free end of the latch extends outwardly of the mount inasmuch as the pivotal axis of rotation of the pin 24 is eccentric with respect to the mount. Thereby, the hole 58 is situated clear of the mount where it is readily accessible to receive the chain 18.

When a sin le bar latch such as the latch 22 is employed, it usually is disposed with its length on a principal axis of the mount and therefore crosses the center of the mount. This, however, may interfere with the placement of a stone on the mount when the stone has a deep base and is centrally located on the mount, this being particularly true when the mount supports a large single stone.

In order to accommodate such a stone, we may employ a modified form of twin bar latch 22 such as is illustrated in FIG. 8. Said latch 22' and the mount and ring band utilized therewith are functionally the same as the like parts of the latch, mount and ring band shown in FIGS. 1-7. However, the latch 22 is in the shape of a wishbone, i.e., it comprises a pair of twin, or Siamese, converging arms 64, 66 joined to a single finger 68 the tip of which is designed to frictionally engage a closed catch notch such as the notch 32 in the mount iii. The other ends of the twin arms 64, 66 are pivoted to a long pin similar to the pin 24 supported in a tube '70 spanning the mount Said mount 1% does not include an open catch notch such as the notch 34 so that any of the alternate methods of threading the chain 18 therein may be used when the mount is to be utilized as a pendant or as a drop. The space between the twin latch fingers 64, 66 at the center of the mount 16' provides room for accommodating the base of a deep central gem. To receive the twin latch arms the ring band 12' includes two properly spaced matching U-shaped bends 44.

It thus will be seen that we have provided convertible jewelry which achieves the various objects of our invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of our above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter'herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An item of convertible jewelry comprising a mount, a ring band, and quickly operable means for detachably attaching the mount to the ring band, said means including an elongated latch, means pivotally connecting an end of said latch to the mount, disengageable catch means holding the free end of the latch to the mount in a closed position in which the length of the latch extends in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the ring band, in which the latch crosses under the ring band and in which the mount is external to the ring band, a portion of said latch intermediate the ends thereof in said closed position contacting and pressing outwardly against the inside of the ring band while portions of the mount on opposite sides of the latch contact and press inwardly against the outside of the ring band, said ring band having an open ended groove which faces toward the inside of the band and which extends from one side of the hand all the way to the other side of the band, said latch having a transverse cross-section shaped to be fully received within said groove and to provide a first tongue-and-groove interengagement which presents oppositely directed pairs of abutting surfaces perpendicular to the plane of the ring band and generally radially to said band, and said mount and ring band having a second tongue-and-groovev interengagement which presents a pair of oppositely directed abutting surfaces parallel to the plane of the ring band.

2. An item of convertible jewelry as set forth in claim 1 wherein the mount and free end of the latch include cooperating notches remote from the pivotal connecting means and interengageable with one another and constituting the detachable catch means for holding the free end of the latch in closed position.

3. An item of convertible jewelry as set forth in claim 1 wherein the mount has ends projecting beyond both sides of the ring band and wherein the pivotal connecting means is located between a projecting end of the mount and the adjacent side of the ring band and is set in from said end of the mount.

4. An item of convertible jewelry as set forth in claim 1 wherein the open ended ring band groove in which the transverse cross-section of the latch is fully received is formed by an outwardly projecting U-shaped bend in the ring band.

5. An item of convertible jewelry comprising a mount, a ring band and quickly operable means for detachably attaching the mount to the ring band or for enabling the mount to be hung as a pendant, said last-named means including an elongated latch, means pivotally connecting one end of said latch to the mount, disengageable catch means to selectively lock the other end of the latch to the mount in a closed position of the latch in which the length thereof extends in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the ring band, in which the latch crosses under the ring band and in which the mount is external to the ring band, a portion of said latch intermediate the ends thereof in such closed position contacting and pressing outwardly against the inside of the ring band while portions of the mount on opposite sides of the latch contact and press inwardly against the outside of the ring band, and means to selectively lock the latch in an open stationary position about away from its closed position, said latch when in said stationary open position having a portion projecting beyond said mount,

said portion having wholly surrounded aperture means for enabling said mount to be hung as a pendant.

6. An item of convertible jewelry comprising a mount, a ring band, and quickly operable means for detachably attaching the mount to the ring band, said means including an elongated latch, means pivotally connecting an end of said latch to the mount, disengageabie catch means holding the free end of the latch to the mount in a closed position in which the length of the latch extends in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the ring band, in which the latch crosses under the ring band and in which the mount is external to the ring band, a portion of said latch intermediate the ends thereof in said closed position contacting and pressing outwardly against the inside of the ring band while portions of the mount on the latch including cooperating notches remote from the 2 pivotal connecting means to frictionally lock the latch in a stationary position 180 away from its closed position, the latch when in said stationary position having a portion projecting beyond said mount, said portion having wholly surrounded aperture means for enabling said mount to be hung as a pendant.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 700,637 5/02 Frey 63-29 1,265,679 5/18 Krope 6315.2 1,726,926 9/29 Schwartz 6329 1,756,041 4/30 Vance.

1,952,307 3/34 Boucher 2244.1 2,129,491 9/38 Chilson 63-19 2,225,890 12/40 Schwartzkopf 63-2 2,509,428 5/50 Greene 2444.1 2,775,878 1/57 Eichhorn 63-29 FOREIGN PATENTS 16,401 1887 Great Britain.

410,696 5/34 Great Britain.

638,783 6/50 Great Britain.

25 8, 3 86 11/ 48 Switzerland.

5 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

CARL W. TOMLIN, JORDAN FRANKLIN, Examiners. 

1. AN ITEM OF CONVERTIBLE JEWELRY COMPRISING A MOUNT, A RING BAND, AND QUICKLY OPERABLE MEANS FOR DETACHABLY ATTACHING THE MOUNT TO THE RING BAND, SAID MEANS INCLUDING AN ELONGATED LATCH, MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING AN END OF SAID LATCH TO THE MOUNT, DISENGAGEABLE CATCH MEANS HOLDING THE FREE END OF THE LATCH TO THE MOUNT IN A CLOSED POSITION IN WHICH THE LENGTH OF THE LATCH EXTENDS IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF THE RING BAND, IN WHICH THE LATCH CROSSES UNDER THE RING BAND AND IN WHICH THE MOUNT IS EXTERNAL TO THE RING BAND, A PORTION OF SAID LATCH INTERMEDIATE THE ENDS THEREOF IN SAID CLOSED POSITION CONTACTING AND PRESSING OUTWARDLY AGAINST THE INSIDE OF THE RING BAND WHILE PORTIONS OF THE MOUNT ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE LATCT CONTACT AND PRESS 